The intersection of criminal law and immigration law

Immigration offenders lead list of criminal removals in 2015 & 2016

ICE successfully used its massive enforcement resources to target migrants with criminal histories in President Obama’s last two fiscal years in office. Most of those, however, had been convicted of nothing more serious than an immigration crime.

Government data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request casts doubt on the Obama administration’s frequent claim that it targeted dangerous individuals. Of the 235,413 people removed by ICE in fiscal year 2015, fifty-nine percent (139,368) had been convicted of a crime.

Leading the list of types of crime were immigration offenses. Thirty-two percent (44,624) of people removed with a criminal history had an immigration crime offense as their most serious conviction. Drug offenders followed with 23,721 people removed. The top three crime categories were rounded out by vehicular traffic offenses at 19,661 individuals removed.

A similar picture appeared the following year. Of the 240,255 people removed by ICE, fifty-seven percent (138,669) had a prior conviction on their record.

Immigration offenders again topped the list counting 46,727 individuals removed. Next came drug offenders at 23,517 and traffic offenders at 19,805.

These data fit neatly into a years-long trend under Obama. From 2010 to 2013, for example, between forty-four and forty-nine percent of removed individuals had been convicted of a crime.

Immigration crimes usually led the list of crimes blemishing those individuals’ records. Traffic offenses and drug offenses tended to follow.

February 5: Quoted in article about Indiana death in drunk driving incident allegedly caused by unauthorized migrant [Read article here]

January 31: I'm quoted in San Francisco Chronicle about ICE's policy of arresting people in and near courthouses [Read article here]

January 18: I talked to CityLab about symbolic value of ICE raids on 7-11 stores [Read article here]

January 8: I'm quoted in Governing talking about ICE head's threats to imprison elected officials who support policies limiting cooperation with ICE [Read article here]

January 5: I'm quoted in article about San Antonio Police Department decision to prosecute alleged migrant smuggler under state law rather than hand over to ICE for federal prosecution [Read article here]

January 3: Quoted in article about ICE chief's threats to imprison elected officials who support migrant-friendly policies [Read article here]

2018

December 30: I'm quoted in The Atlantic discussing the special impact crimmigration policies have on black migrants [Read article here]

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The information contained on these pages must not be considered legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. This work by www.crImmigration.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.